At Death's Door
by xemo-boy-uchihax
Summary: He always hid his feelings...until a meeting with destiny and an old friend forced him to reveal them...ONESHOT...


Neji Hyuuga lay on the dry, drought-ridden ground, blood pouring from a deep wound in his chest. He suspected that he was dying.

He wasn't surprised. He had known that it would happen sooner or later. He tried to roll over, get up, do anything to get away from the person who had haunted his mind for so many years. It had been the first time he had used the Byakugan that he had seen him.

"_Useless boy!" the sound of a whip falling on his back. _

"_Argh!" He screamed in pain as the two men approaching him attacked him again._

"_You're not fit to be the protector of a proper Hyuuga, you worthless dropout!" _

_He felt hot tears slide down his face._

"_You're no use to anyone. We might as well kill you."_

_A strange feeling welled up in his chest. He felt his whole body tense in something much more than anger. A word just welled up from deep within him._

_He heard himself shout something uncontrollable and the seal on his forehead burst open in absolute agony. Images whipped through his mind. _

_His cousin, Hinata, being beaten by her father…_

_An older him and Hinata fighting each other…_

_The older version of him lying at the feet of a blonde haired ninja, defeated but not dead…_

_And a boy, around seventeen years old, lying on the barren land, blood seeping from a wound in his chest. Neji knew that he was dying. And there was another figure…_

Neji slowly pulled himself to his feet. Over the years he had pried more and more into his own future, but he had never been able to put a name to that face.

"Why?" The question was choked out from between blood stained lips. The first question Neji had asked in more than ten years.

"Because, I had to prove it to them Neji." The figure walked closer. "I said I would protect my way of the ninja. So that is what I am doing. Surely you, who have known me better than anyone should know that this was how it had to end."

"Lee, you don't have to do this. I can help you, we can help you."

"I don't need your help!" the figure snarled, and sent a punch into Neji's stomach. "Look at us. Who's the one lying in the dust now?" The figure kicked him hard. Neji doubled over and wretched. "You've lost, Neji. Can't you accept that?"

Neji turned away from the man standing above him and spat out a mouthful of blood.

He looked sideways and to see the crumpled figure of a girl with bubblegum pink hair lying on the ground outside the dome that was preventing him from running away.

Lee noticed his look.

"You'll never have her Neji. She's mine." The man twitched the corners of his mouth into an evil grin. "She never wanted me. She always rejected me. But I can still make her love me." He walked over to her, passing through the protective dome as easily as if it was water. Neji forced himself to his feet.

"Don't you dare touch her." Neji's voice was shaking in pain and hatred.

Lee bent down and caressed her cheek.

"You are so beautiful. Lee said that he would always protect you but," the man shook his head, "oh no, you didn't believe him. But soon that will be over. We can live together for ever."

"What happened to the Lee I used to know?!" Neji was shouting now, his calm exterior wrenched away. "What did you do to him?!"

"Lee went away," said the man simply. "One day he just left." The man chuckled.

Neji looked at the man who had once been his friend and saw nothing of Lee in his eyes. His eyes were the pained, heartless and misunderstanding eyes of a child who has been abused. He had no-where to turn, no-one to tell.

Nothing remained but the shell of a once worthy man.

"Lee," Neji realised that he was crying. " I am so sorry."

His tears just made the man angrier. "Why are you crying Neji-kun? I want to fight you. I can win." Neji got to his feet.

"Lee," he said quietly to himself, "I will avenge you. Even if it kills me."

He launched himself at the man. The thing that used Lee's name aimed a flying kick at him and at the last moment Neji cried out "Byakugan!"

He felt the strange heat and ice inside him awaken and suddenly the world was clear.

"I can see…everything." Neji was shocked by the clarity of the world around him.

_When the body senses it has only a little time left it channels all energy into keeping the soul alive for longer. _

"What?!" The fake Lee shouted in confusion as Neji disappeared. "Where are you! Where did you go! Come back!" Suddenly Neji's hand was slamming into his back.

_It ends here!_

Neji channelled all his chakra into a shining sword of light and released it into the man's body. The figure screamed as it entered him and in the second before his life left him, the Lee Neji had known looked out at him from the 'thing's' eyes.

_Arigatou Neji…_

The green suited man fell forwards. Neji was left standing up alone. He felt surprisingly awakened. He immediately rushed over to the figure of Sakura, who was beginning to stir. He took her into his arms

"Sasuke…" she murmured. Neji felt a pain like a knife stab through his chest. He had always known that she felt nothing for him. But he couldn't deny his strange feelings towards her.

_They walked past him. 'The one with black hair is looking at me' thought Neji._

_And that weird blonde dude is letting off some awesome chakra signals._

_But it was she, the only girl in the team who surprised Neji most. From her, Neji could not feel anything. _

_Maybe that was because his Byakugan was playing up but he doubted it. He felt almost immediately drawn to this strange girl. _

_Although he couldn't be sure, it was almost as if she was keeping her emotions and thoughts secret from the world, hidden inside her._

_Just like him._

That was when he had realised that he had fallen in love with her.

Over the years Neji had watched, from a distance, as she had been rejected by her love over again. He watched her suffer. She thought she was alone in the pain. But he felt for her everyday of his life. He wanted and **needed** her to stop him from being overwhelmed by the tide of emotions he felt everyday.

Neji smiled to himself. Sakura opened her eyes.

"Neji?" Sakura looked confused. "Where's Sasuke-kun," and then her face went as white as a sheet. He watched the memories creeping back into her face. "Oh Neji…what happened…Lee?"

Neji swallowed. "The thing that was inside him is dead. But Lee has been dead ever since that fight with Gaara back in the Forest of Death." She hiccupped and then started to shake.

"Shhh," Neji held her in his arms. He wanted to hold her close and never let her go. "Please Sakura, listen to me." Neji gulped his throat dry. "And consider my statement before you refuse it. I love you." Sakura's eyes widened.

"I have loved you ever since the first time I saw you. But you never had eyes for anyone but Sasuke." Neji turned his face away. " Please, if we survive this," his voice came out choked and stunted, "give me a chance."

"Neji…I…I…don't know what to say."

Suddenly Neji felt a jerk from inside him. His attack was catching up on him. He turned around and threw up a mixture of blood and bile.

"Neji-san!" Sakura was leaning over him. Neji's body began to shake uncontrollably.

"No, no, you can't leave me now!" Sakura placed her hands on Neji's chest and a huge amount of blue chakra came flowing out of her hands and into him.

"I never want to lose another precious person," Sakura sobbed, "Please Neji don't leave me alone now."

Slowly Neji's breathing returned to normal. Sakura took her hands of his chest and looked at them in amazement.

" I have nothing left.." she almost breathed. "It's all gone." She looked up at him in a stunned way.

Neji smiled.he was still weak but he knew that he could get them both away safely.

"It can be a bit frightening, running out of chakra in a foreign place." Neji took her hands in his. "But trust me, I will protect you. Until the day I die."

_Until the day I die…_

_How long will that be?_

_Maybe…_

_Maybe even the Byakugan makes mistakes…_

_Can people change?_

Neji looked up at Sakura and saw the trust in her eyes. It was a little reluctant but there was something there. She had changed her self for him.

Could he change?

Neji really hoped so.

END

* * *

Ha! my first NejiSaku 

I'm actually a big fan of SasuSaku but I just had inspiration you know.

What do you guys think?


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